Atlanta Hawks Have Backcourt of the Future in Trae Young & Kevin Huerter
By Chris Guest
Trae’s Terrific Season
As has already been stated, Trae Young has erupted into the popular consciousness of late after some incredible performances as well as a despicable ejection from salty referees. In fact, Trae has played so well over the course of the season that it’s not a stretch to claim him as the best rookie in Hawks franchise history.
Most notably, Young produced a 49-point, 16-assist stat line that will remain legendary – no matter what happens the rest of the season, or even the rest of Trae’s career:
While Young is something of a turnstile on defense at this juncture, he has exhibited superior effort in recent weeks, and there is hope that he can get stronger (a la Stephen Curry’s supreme gains in recent years) and learn how to defend better later on in his career.
Trae is already one of the best passers in the NBA, and his 1.79 Offensive Real Plus/Minus per ESPN puts him ahead of elite talents like Ben Simmons and De’Aaron Fox.
Young is just outside of Inpredictable’s Top 25 in terms of Kitchen Sink Win Probability Added with an 18.59 kWPA, which combines win probability added for each box score counting stat.
However, one need only watch a full game of Trae to realize that he is a special talent at the point guard spot, and the Atlanta Hawks made the right choice if they were looking to cement the team’s lead ballhandling gig for years to come.
Much has been written about Trae Young here at SDS (and much more will be), but how have these two rookies played together in their rookie seasons? Let’s explore that.